Marketing Dojo #82: ⏰ Your Marketing's Clock Is Ticking? 🛎️
Prof Galloway's Clock Framework, AI's Privacy Nightmare, Social Media Giants Are Copycats and more.
Hello,
Welcome to the 82nd edition of the Marketing Dojo! Thank you for joining me this week.
Fall has arrived. The weather remains stubbornly consistent here in Singapore. Still, the plants know—there's a quiet shift in the air, and my morning and evening walks have become little reminders of change.
Here’s the menu for the week:
🕰️ Scott Galloway, a clock, and a marketing framework
🔄 Why are social media apps cloning each other
🎭 Influencers: the plot (and the power) thickens
🚨 The privacy nightmare
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Now, let's kick off this week's marketing wisdom...
Is Your Brand Stuck in Time?
Prof Scott Galloway has an opinion on everything. I don't always agree with him, but I almost always open his emails and listen to his podcasts. Why? Because he's a master communicator. He has a knack for finding the right metaphors and phrases that stick.
Recently, he dropped a gem that made me hit pause and rewind: The Clock Framework.
Here's the gist: A brand can divide its marketing activities into three phases, like a clock.
Pre-Purchase (12-4)
This phase is all about generating awareness and intent. Think advertising, PR, social media engagement, and sponsorships. Brands pour a lot of money into this stage, but Galloway argues it's becoming less effective as traditional advertising loses steam.
Purchase (4-8)
This phase covers everything during the buying process—the in-store experience, online shopping, product packaging, or distribution. The goal here? Make buying easy and enjoyable to boost conversions.
Post-Purchase (8-12)
This often-overlooked phase is crucial for maintaining customer relationships after the sale. It includes customer support, loyalty programs, and warranties. Galloway stresses that many brands drop the ball here despite its importance for driving repeat business and satisfaction.
Most brands do incredibly well with one phase and maintain an industry standard in the other two.
For example:
Coke, Nike, Heinz, and McDonald's dominate advertising (Pre-Purchase).
Apple and Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster excel in the in-store experience (Purchase).
Sephora and Nespresso have nailed omni-channel loyalty programs (Post-Purchase).
Throwing all your chips into the Pre-Purchase pot (12-4) is like trying to shout the loudest in a room where everyone's already screaming. It's expensive, it's crowded, and let's be honest—it's not as effective as it used to be.
What time is it for your brand? Are you stuck in one phase while the others collect dust? It may be time to look at the other hours on the clock.
Influencer Marketing Is Just Getting Started.
Remember when everyone said influencer marketing was just a fad? Well, Morning Consult's latest survey just handed those sceptics their hats.
The study from Morning Consult reveals a few interesting details.
Nearly 1 in 4 Gen Z adults follow more than 50 influencers.
A staggering 88% of Gen Z respondents reported following at least one influencer on social media—almost double the rate of the rest of the population.
Gen Z is far more likely to seek out influencer content across a wide range of topics, from relationships to politics.
And if you think influencer marketing is reaching its peak, think again. Roughly 32% of Gen Zers want to see even more influencer content.
Influencer marketing isn't just here to stay - if you're not thinking about your influencer strategy, you're showing up to a smartphone fight with a carrier pigeon.
And hey, if you're still sceptical, remember: the data doesn't lie, even if some influencers' filters do. 😉
Why Social Media is Becoming a Copy-Paste Industry.
"Can they not be innovative? Do they have to steal all of my partner's ideas? I'm so appalled by that... When you directly copy someone, that's not innovation."
- Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr, wife of Snap co-founder Evan Spiegel.
Eight years ago, Snap and Facebook were at odds, with Facebook blatantly copying Snap's Stories to counter Instagram's dropping engagement.
Fast-forward to last week, and Snap has come full circle, introducing Simple Snapchat—a feature that merges Stories and Spotlight into an endless feed that looks strikingly similar to TikTok.
Copying features from other platforms is now the norm. When the anti-Instagram app BeReal was gaining popularity, TikTok and Instagram quickly responded with their versions, TikTok Now and IG Candid Challenges.
Fast Company's recent article, Why Social Media Companies Keep Copying Each Other, highlights a troubling trend—social media apps operate in a kill-or-be-killed market. Giants like Meta, Snap, X, TikTok, and YouTube are stuck in a loop of mimicking each other's innovations.
Meanwhile, newer apps like BeReal, Lapse, and NGL face an uncertain future, with daily active users plummeting.
Smaller apps are serving as free R&D for the giants. Eventually, all social media apps might just be the same app with different logos.
From Selfies to Surveillance: How AI Is Turning Your Data Into Dollars.
Remember when targeted ads felt creepy because they knew you liked dogs? Those were simpler times. Now, we're entering an era where your car might eavesdrop on your conversations, and your selfies could star in ads you never agreed to. Welcome to the AI gold rush, where privacy is the price of admission.
First up: Snap. If you've agreed to the terms and conditions of Snap's MySelfie for AI-generated images, you've also agreed to let your face be used in Snap's ads. Are you comfortable being an unpaid model for ads on Snap?
Next, Ford. In a new and unsettling development, Ford has filed a patent for a system that delivers ads through car dashboards, using a wealth of data collected from connected vehicles. This data shockingly includes conversations happening inside the car.
Your heated debate about pineapple on pizza could soon trigger an ad for Domino's on your dashboard. Privacy? That's so last century!
As a marketer, this feels like watching a train wreck in slow motion. How often have you heard someone say, "I don't believe it; it's just marketing"? For many, marketing has become synonymous with lies.
Signing up for ads by Snap or Ford will make us complicit with these privacy invasions. And these companies are not alone. Last week, LinkedIn was caught using user data to train its AI models. I am sure more such revelations will pop up in the coming days.
In the near future, brands will have to make tough decisions: What's the source of our data? What consumer information are we accessing to serve these ads? Where do we draw the line between delivering personalized content and respecting privacy?
I hope we make the right choices before AI-fueled dystopia takes over.
Short Stuff:
Google launches ads in AI overviews (Race to monetize AI).
Facebook paid $2Bn to creators on its platform in the first half of this year (Still measly compared to YouTube’s payouts)
YouTube’s creator awards, AKA Play Buttons, are now 30% smaller. (Shrinkflation is everywhere).
That’s a wrap on this week. Thank you for your time and attention. If you liked this week’s newsletter or found something interesting, please give me a like ❤️ or drop a comment🗨️. Your support helps drive the newsletter's discoverability.
Regards,
Garima Mamgain
P.S: This week’s newsletter has gotten too long for its own good. Will deliver the goods next week. Ciao.